80 killed in IS massacre

Violence continued in northern Iraq yesterday with reports that Islamic State (IS) jihadist fighters had massacred at least 80 men from the Yazidi faith and abducted women and children.

Violence continued in northern Iraq yesterday with reports that Islamic State (IS) jihadist fighters had massacred at least 80 men from the Yazidi faith and abducted women and children.

Survivors said the attack happened on Friday afternoon in the village of Kocho. Yesterday, the jihadists were pounded by US airstrikes around the area of the Mosul Dam, Iraq's largest, in an effort to drive out the militants who captured it earlier this month.

On the diplomatic front, Masoud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, appealed to Germany for weapons to help Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling IS. On Friday the European Union gave a green light to member state governments to supply arms to the Kurds if it has the consent of the government in Baghdad.

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